Jets face Flyers looking for third win in a row

PHILADELPHIA — We’re about to find out if the Winnipeg Jets can put the Thanksgiving Day dinner behind them and find a way to earn a third consecutive victory for the first time this season.

Standing in their way are the Philadelphia Flyers, who are sure to be in an ornery mood after dropping their past two games on a trip to Florida.

By now, you’ve either heard or read that Jets head coach Claude Noel had some choice words for his charges during a lull in Thursday’s workout and that captain Andrew Ladd offered a rebuttal of sorts.

As I wrote in Friday’s column, it wasn’t a big deal and was only really mentioned because it’s not a regular occurrence.

I like the fact that both parties showed some emotion in the exchange.

Will the Jets carry some emotion over into this morning’s 11:30 am CT start?

They better, because the Flyers are sure to come out playing a physical brand of hockey.

Doubt it’s going to be a 9-8 special like I saw here during the 2011-12 season, but it should be an interesting one. It usually is when these two teams get together.

The Jets are off to a strong start to this six-game road trip, winning the first two games, but they can’t really afford a step back if they want to work their way up the standings in the congested Central Division.

The Jets will head to New York City after the game and won’t be back in action until Monday when they face the New York Rangers.

This is an opportunity for the Jets to secure another two-game sweep over an Eastern Conference opponent.

They already secured one on Monday against the New Jersey Devils, but you can be sure the Flyers are going to do everything in their power to prevent that from happening.

Should be a fun one, Flyers fans arrived early and many had some tailgating festivities going.

Ondrej Pavelec is back in goal for the Jets after Al Montoya earned the win in goal against the New York Islanders Wednesday, while Steve Mason starts for the Flyers.

I’m not anticipating any lineup changes for the Jets, as Toby Enstrom (who missed Thursday’s skate for maintenance) was out there during the warm-up and skating alongside Dustin Byfuglien.

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Ken Wiebe is a sports writer with the Winnipeg Sun and has been since August of 2000. He's covered the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League for more than a decade, but is comfortable covering sports on any surface. Born in Brandon and raised in Altona, he now resides in St. Vital. He got his start in the newspaper business at the Red River Valley Echo and is a graduate of the University of Regina's journalism program.

Kirk Penton was born in Manitoba, grew up in Saskatchewan and has been back in Manitoba since 1997. He has worked at the Winnipeg Sun since 2001, is married with two sons and can't get enough sports into his diet.

Ted Wyman has been sports editor of the Winnipeg Sun since 2006 and has been with the sports department since 2003. He is a born and raised Manitoban who grew up as a sports fan in Winnipeg and now has 20 years of sports writing experience.